When you think that you really only need to eat a small number of extra calories each day to create weight gain over a year it may pay to think about how many ‘treats’ you are having.

If one day have a couple of biscuits to pick up your energy levels and the next day you have ice cream for dessert because you haven’t had it for a while and the next day you meet a friend for coffee and cake as a reward for hard work and the next day you have some cheese, biscuits and then cheese with a glass of wine to celebrate the end of the week. You can begin to see where the figure of 36% of our food is coming from the ‘discretionary’ food choices – unfortunately this figure is even higher for our kids.

When you start to add up the ‘extra’ foods we have you can see a pattern forming.

Treat + Treat + Treat = Habit

I think the problem lies in the fact that for a lot of people the decision to eat is wrapped up with a whole lot of other stuff:

Emotions

Rewards

Procrastination

Punishment

Celebrations

Tiredness and energy levels

When really the main consideration should be, “Am I hungry?”

This is usually a “yes” or “no” response, however when we start putting all these other things in the way what we get is justifications of why we should, can, will eat the extra usually high calorie foods.

What if the answer is “Yes, I am hungry”?

If the answer is “Yes” I’m hungry – if you are trying to lose weight you really need to ask yourself if the food you are eating is actually going to fix your hunger. If you think a sweet biscuit or some lollies is going to make you feel less hungry- I’d say you aren’t really hungry! I’m often amazed at the things people eat to stop them feeling hungry between meals because I know if I’m hungry I need to eat something that will fill me up a little bit not just leave a sweet taste in my mouth.

There are some healthier snacks such as popcorn or fruit that are really good for you however they may not always satisfy your hunger.

Remember the idea of a between meal snack is to take the edge off your hunger but not to fill you up so much that you are not hungry for the next meal.

So it’s totally okay to be hungry between meals and choose a healthy snack that will satisfy you but if you are trying to lose weight and are often “treating yourself” for reasons other than hunger it might be time to rethink your habits.

Good Luck!

Lisa APD.

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BODY WARFAREby Lisa Renn

A 'how' to book for
frustrated dieters
looking to find the
secret to motivation. It
provides tools to undo
a lifetime of poor
eating habits; putting
in place strategies for
sustainable weight
loss.